Midway Through WSOP: Setting Records

We already told you about this year's World Series of Pokerbraking and almost breaking records. However, it appears that the two we've mentioned are nothing compared to the whole bunch of records and other cool stuff happening in WSOP 2011. Yesterday they have issued a piece on how great the World Series is this year and how much more dudes are playing at the tables than they did in 2010.

This, of course (well, at least we tend to think so), is the cause of the Black Friday. Clearly all the US grinders decided it was time to leave their home computers as they're no good anymore without PokerStars, Full Tilt and UB on them and though it would be a good idea to make some cash playing live poker. Yeah, that's definitely the case.

And so, since each and every decent (and by decent we mean with at least a 5 figure account) online cash player is at the WSOP trying to make up for the lost month and a half as well as all the cash in their Full Tilt account, the World Series numbers grow. At the halfway point WSOP have decided to do some counting and see what comes out. Here are some numbers: through the first 30 events, participation is up 11.7 percent with more than 33,000 guys at the tables, causing a rise in prize pool of 8.6 percent since last year which is almost $56 million.

And talking about the records. Not only did Event #4 made Maria Ho the chick with the most cash in 1 event in the whole WSOP history, but a couple of other tournaments set some records as well. Here's a short list:

Event #2 had the biggest heads-up tournament prize pool - $3,040,000

Event #10 was the largest six-handed tournament in poker history - 1,920 entries

Event #30, was the largest seniors poker tournament in history - 3,752 entries

On Friday, June 18, the WSOP sat 5,946 players for the various poker tournaments scheduled that day – the largest number of players ever entered on a single day in live poker history.

“We are humbled once again by the incredible turnout from players all over the world,” said WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart. “It has been a record-setting summer thus far in 2011 and we are confident it will continue through the duration of the tournament.”

“It is one thing to plan and prepare to accommodate such a large number of people on a daily basis, but it is truly an amazing feeling to see it all unfold in front of your eyes like we have witnessed at the WSOP in 2011. We are grateful for everyone’s patience throughout and want to thank the players who have showed up thus far. We look forward to welcoming still more players who are still yet to make their 2011 WSOP debut,” Tournament Director Jack Effel said.

WSOP say this year's attendance and prizpool numbers are the highest in poker history! See more records being broken and more big digits at WSOP.com.